Not even a first visit to Wimbledon last week could inspire Paul Haigh to victory yesterday in the Yorkshire Champion-ships at Chapel Allerton Lawn Tennis and Squash Club in Leeds.

The 35-year-old Rawdon member was beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Sheffield's Chris Fitz-patrick in the first qualifying round of the men's singles.

"It was my mum's 60th birthday and, as a present, I got a pair of tickets and we stayed in a hotel overnight down south," said Haigh.

"The tennis and the atmosphere was tremendous at Wimbledon. You just don't appreciate how hard the players hit the ball by watching on TV.

"We got tickets to Court No 1 on the Monday and saw Goran Ivanisevic v Greg Rusedski and Andre Agassi v Nick Kiefer.

"We also sampled the excitement of sitting on the hill and watching the big screen. Tickets permitting, I will definitely be going back next year."

As for his own game, however, the combination of a swirling wind and an artificial grass court that didn't lend itself to changing direction contributed to a defeat against an opponent half his age.

"You would hit the ball in one place one shot and try and hit the next shot in the same place and it would go somewhere completely different," admitted Haigh, who missed virtually the whole of last season after a hernia operation.

More successful were Ilkley members Ben Pearson and Matthew Parry. Pear-son, who has just finished his first year studying economics at Bath University, only entered an hour before he started his first match, having returned from Portugal on Tuesday.

His defeat of Stokesley's Andrew Dee-ley meant he faced a final qualifying round match this afternoon against Sheffield's Tom Jordan.

Also through to the final round is Baildon's Parry, who was consigned to a slightly more sheltered back court in his 6-1, 6-2 victory over Rawdon member Simon Barraclough. He was playing Lee Wilson (South Leeds ITI) today.

Four will go through to the main draw, but the only qualifier decided yesterday was Goole professional David Kitchen.

A semi-finalist two years ago when he beat Matthew McTurk in the quarter-finals, the 23-year-old beat Sheffield 17-year-old Steven Dronfield 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 in 2hr 45min to earn the right to face Jason Torpey next Thursday.